the russian had me at "would you like to try some hand cream?"

following my own simple shopping advice, i went to my local whole foods market today to buy some much-needed face moisturizer, eye make-up remover and shampoo. not only am i out of the formerly worn $100-moisturizer i use, but i am looking for more natural skin care products so i thought that would be a good place to start.

well chance would have it that a russian skin care company, mirra, was having an in-store demo today. i spent 15 glorious minutes with paulina, the russian-accented skin care expert who made me want to go into a yummy, drool-filled slumber as she carefully espoused the benefits of about 10 products. (sometimes when certain people talk to me, i just get all glowy and light inside. it's like being told a story when you were little. something about it and this paulina had it. i totally wanted to be her friend and have lunch with her or something. the whole thing reminded me of keri smith's grapefruit experience.)

i learned a lot while talking with her. the company is new to the us, but has been around for eight years in russia and throughout europe. currently, the products are available at southern california whole foods stores. mirra uses special "cold emulsification" technology to create their products without employing heat. according to their literature, all ingredients are plant based (except some have milk or caviar in them — they didn't stink, don't worry, but just the thought of fish egg extract on my face had me thinking "no thank you."), have no artificial coloring, contain no hormones or pharmaceuticals, are naturally preserved — and they do not test on animals. and their unique packaging employ pumps to avoid nasty germs and such — you can't contaminate them.

first, the products smelled delicious. i have never been a synthetic fragrance type of person (i don't/can't wear perfume) and so i tend to shy away from products with lots of strong scents like those by lancôme paris. paulina tried the products on my hands and i did not want to wash them — they smelled that good. clean, fresh and natural, almost like fruit.

she was very helpful and detailed in her explanations. i wanted to try out the products before i bought them because well, you never know. since the sample sizes were all reserved for the upcoming trade show (see below), she just went to the salad station and packaged me up a bunch in to-go salad dressing containers. they must be kept refrigerated and only last three days like that, so i'll be using them starting tonight and letting you know how they are. these products are also very affordable, which fits in nicely with my goals. no product is over $50.

i will be trying:

• cleansing lotion, $23 for 4.2 ounces. this herbal cleanser is a bit different. it's a non-foaming liquid that is applied with a cotton ball and swiped across the face. this will be a change for me, so we'll see how i do.
• tonic lotion, $23 for 4.2 ounces. this is a clarifying toner and it was perhaps my favorite product. it had notes of grapefruit (my favorite) and just left my hand feeling really clean, but not dry.
• madonna, moisturizing day cream, $25 for one ounce (but i think whole foods had it on special). this is a very lightweight moisturizer that i could wear every day. i can imagine it would be especially good in the summer/fall when it's really hot here in la.
• bifiron balm, intensive skin softener with cultured bifidus, $26 for 2.5 ounces. this felt really good on my hands, very rich and creamy, yet not too oily. but, it does have dairy in it (bifidus products are produced from concentrated milk). not sure how i feel about that yet.
• mummiyo, anti-aging cream. $37 for one ounce. this product contains shilajit, which means "conqueror of mountains and destroyer of weakness" in sanskrit. in addition to "conquering the weakness" of aging by renewing skin cells (please let it be true), paulina said since shilajit contains 85 minerals, it was good for people with skin conditions like psoriasis and rosacea, so i'm going to tell my sisters, both sufferers, about this one.

in store, i tried their eye cream ($43 for one ounce), which made my undereye area feel a little cool and refreshed; their hand cream ($22 for 2.5 ounces) which smelled good enough to eat; and their eye micro-emulsion ($25 for .10 fluid ounce), which would be perfect for sleeping on.

if you're interested, the company will be exhibiting next week (5-7 march) at the natural products expo west show in anaheim, calif. it looks like they allow "outside industry" guests.

i hope the products live up to the in-store experience. i've never been so excited to wash my face!

ps as for the eye make-up remover, i am trying herbessence makeup remover by aubrey organics, saving about $15 from my usual soothing eye make-up remover by dermalogica (who does not test on animals, but i'm switching to save money). as far as shampoo, this whole foods only carried a couple of kiss my face shampoos and the ones they carried had eucalyptus in them (not for me). so i chose nature's gate herbal shampoo with chamomile, saving about $6 from my usual terax product (again, they don't test, but i'm trying to save some coin and go with more natural products). i'll keep you posted on those, too.

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update: after three days of using these products, i can tell you that i fully endorse them. the cleansing lotion and tonic are by far my favorites, followed by the madonna and mummiyo lotions. i found the bifiron balm had a bit too much moisture power for my skin type. i really like these products because they are very, very light and not the least bit greasy. i've already told you about the smell; it was just heavenly closer up. while my better half did not notice any difference (no big surprise there), i felt like my pores (how he has described innocently as "big" in the past) were smaller. the products felt like they were actually working too. a little tingle. a little cool. my skin just felt fresh — like after you get a facial. i will be going back to purchase said items this week.

on the eye make-up remover front things went pretty well with my little experiment. i have to work a little bit harder with this remover to get my mascara off, but on the whole, my eyes felt really good and were not irritated at all. i also feel like i'm getting a little bonus because the oils in the remover serve double-duty as moisturizers, too.

the shampoo didn't give me goosebumps, however. it left my hair frizzy and dry. plus, i needed a lot of shampoo to get the sudsiness that i crave. i will be moving on and will post my next trial here.

shampoo update: i decided to go with my old standby, aveda. i had originally boycotted them when they switched their distribution to "concept salons" only. i could no longer go to my local beauty supply or order online to buy their products, which was quite inconvenient for me. luckily, there is a salon very nearby now, so i don't have any heartburn when i need a refill. i am using their sap moss shampoo and shampure conditioner. i really love the shampoo. it is helping my dry hair. the shampure is great, though i may get the rosemary mint conditioner next time. and for deep treatment, i have my eye on curessence.